Snivy Line/BW
The Snivy line is available from the box sent to the player's house in Nuvema Town. Snivy is one of the three starters Unova has to offer. With an initial decent bulk and high Speed, this line can tank more hits than other pure Grass-types that live in Unova. The best thing about this line is the ability of use one of the most dangerous, but destructive strategies in a Nuzlocke: SubCoil and SubSeed. Serperior is one of the few Pokémon that can use the move Substitute effectively in a run, a move that can help Serperior wreck this region in unconventional nuzlocke ways. Important Matchups * Bianca (Nuvema Town): Tackle is the only thing you can do in this battle. You can use one Leer to lower Oshawott's Defense, but it's not going to change a lot. * Cheren (Nuvema Town): Same as Bianca, Tackle his Tepig and gain your first level. * N (Accumula Town): Level 7 is recommended more to be at the same level as the Purrloin than for Vine Whip, as with the STAB bonus, the attack is only going to have 52-53 BP, not a huge improvement from Tackle and its 50BP. Use Vine Whip or Tackle to deal damage and Leer in the case the Purrloin decides to use Growl to lower your Attack. * Bianca (Route 2): Another easy battle for Snivy, although you may want to keep the snake far from Bianca's Lillipup's Leer. The Lillipup should be 2HKO-ed by Vine Whip, while the Oshawott is going to go down with the first one. * Cheren (Striaton City): Keep Snivy away from Tepig as it knows Ember now. Purrloin is going to be 2HKO-ed without problems by Tackle or Vine Whip. * Gym #1 - Chili (Striaton City, Fire-type): If you level up your Snivy to 13, you can take advantage of Lillipup with Growth as the puppy is going to set up one or two Work Up before attacking you. One Growth should be enough to 2HKO Lillipup and in the case you are at level 12, you can use Leer to get the same result. Don't fight Pansear, it obviously has a Fire move in the form of Incinerate. Not even Berries will help you. * Cheren (Route 3): Same as before, Tackle or Vine Whip the Purrloin and change to another teammate when Tepig appears. Watch out for Purrloin's Sand Attack as it can lower your accuracy and make the battle longer than it should be. * N (Nacrene City): Although you can decide to battle him with or without a Servine, you should at least come to this fight with a level 16 Snivy. Let another Pokémon battle the Pidove before sending your Snivy or Servine. Tympole is OHKO-ed by any Grass move you can have and Timburr is going to be defeated with two Leaf Tornadoes, but watch out for Bide - switch to buffing/debuffing to stall it should it happen. * Gym #2 - Lenora (Nacrene City, Normal-type): Use Leech Seed to give your Servine some sustenance in this battle. Watch out for Herdier's Take Down, as a critical hit can be fatal and in the meantime, spam Leaf Tornado until you K.O the dog. Switch immediately when Watchog appears to a Pokémon that can resist Normal-type or can tank a boosted Retaliate, as Servine isn't going to succeed in most cases. You can send back Servine after the first Retaliate to use Leech Seed and attack Watchog with Leaf Tornado. * Gym #3 - Burgh (Castelia City, Bug-type): Bug types. Yes, Dwebble's only Bug-type attack is weak and special, but still, better to use something with a resistance or a neutral matchup and give your Servine a break. * Bianca (Castelia City): If you are using a physical Servine, you may want to start with another Pokémon as Bianca is going to start with an Intimidate Herdier. If not, 2HKO the Herdier with Leaf Tornado. Do the same with Munna and Dewott, but switch when you see Pansear coming. * Cheren (Route 4): Servine should stay away from Pidove and Pignite. For Liepard, go with Leech Seed in the first turn as the cat can start spamming Sand Attack. After that, continue with Mega Drain for sustenance and a higher accuracy than Leaf Tornado. Tackle the Pansage until you KO it... yes, Tackle, except if you already level up your Servine to 28, in that case go with Slam. Unless you don't trust anything with Slam's accuracy. * N (Nimbasa City): Leaf Tornado for Sandile and Scraggy, don't waste your time with Darumaka and Sigilyph and change to a Water/Rock/Ground type. * Gym #4 - Elesa (Nimbasa City, Electric-type): No. Yes, Grass-types resist Electric moves, but Elesa has two Emolgas with Flying-type moves and a Zebstrika with a Fire-type move that also boosts its already high Speed. Are you really sure that you want to keep Servine in this battle? Yeah, Sandiles are cool. * Cheren (Route 5): The only Pokémon that changed for this battle is the same that you didn't fight in the last match (Pidove evolved), so yes, let other Pokémon deal with the new Tranquill and Pignite and do the same as before with Liepard and Pansage. * Gym #5 - Clay (Driftveil City, Ground-type): Levelling up your Servine to 32 so it can learn Leaf Blade is one of the best things you can do to prepare for this battle, even more needed if you have a physically-oriented Servine. Krokorok and Palpitoad are going to be OHKO-ed by Leaf Blade, but not Excadrill. For this one is better to let a bulky Water or Ground-type fight there, but in the case you don't have any... prepare for one of the worst battles of your life. Use the first turn to use Leech Seed on Excadrill and if you have any X items, prioritize Defense and Speed, as Excadrill can lower your Speed with Bulldoze and buff its Attack with Hone Claws. As always, watch out for critical hits, as they'll render your Defense boosts pointless. Leaf Blade can 3HKO or 4HKO Excadrill without Leech Seed and a secure 3HKO with it, a 2HKO in the case Overgrow activates. Your worst problems here are going to be flinch that can be caused by Rock Slide and an Attack-boosted critical hit, the rest can be deal with potions and Leech Seed. * Bianca (Driftveil City): Compared to Clay, Bianca is going to be piece of cake for your Servine. 2HKO Herdier with Leaf Blade or Leaf Tornado and then change to another teammate to deal with Pansear and recover your Servine from Intimidate. OHKO the Oshawott later and Leech Seed the Musharna in the case it uses Hypnosis successfully, when you can, finish the Musharna with Leaf Blade or Leaf Tornado in case Musharna buffed its Defense with Defense Curl. * N (Chargestone Cave): If you have a Servine, use Leaf Blade to 2HKO Boldore and forget about the rest. In case you already evolved your snake to its Serperior form, 2HKO Boldore with Leaf Blade and Joltik with Return as this one doesn't have either the bulk or the power to be a real match for Serperior. * Gym #6 - Skyla (Mistralton City, Flying-type): Flying types, you should know what to (not) do. * Cheren (Route 7): Start the battle with another Pokémon as Cheren leads with Unfezant. Then 2HKO Liepard and Simisage with Leaf Blade and Return. Like always, stay away from Pignite. * Gym #7 - Brycen (Icirrus City, Ice-type): A physical Serperior should be able to OHKO Cryogonal with a single Leaf Blade, the rest are an impossible matches for Serperior. Remember that Brycen leads with a Vanillish, so only use Serperior vs Cryogonal in the case you are playing Switch Mode. * Bianca (Route 8): Try not to lead with a physical Serperior as Stoutland has Intimidate and its bulk is more dangerous than Herdier's one. A special Serperior should be able to 2HKO or 3HKO Stoutland without problems. OHKO the Samurott with Leaf Blade or Giga Drain and then continue with Musharna, that probably is going to need 2-3 hits before going down. Let a Water/Rock/Ground-type mate deal with Simisear. * Gym #8 - Iris/Drayden (Opelucid City, Dragon-type): A special Serperior isn't going to do a lot in this battles as the best think it can do is Leech Seed the dragons. The physical Serperior has its problems too, as the Gym's Fraxure and Haxorus has Rivalry as ability, so is recommended to battle Drayden with a female Serperior and Iris with a male one. You can start the battle with the Fraxure with a Substitute or a Leech Seed, as the game probably is going to try to set up some Dragon Dances before attacking you. In that case, go for Coil to raise Serperior's Attack and Defense so it can resist the dragons' physical moves. Attack with Return after one Coil as Fraxure can use Dragon Tail to switch your Serperior to a more fragile team member and make things difficult. Try to use the SubCoil strategy again with Druddigon, as this is the only Pokémon in Gym without Dragon Dance, so you can risk a Dragon Tail. If you managed to get two more Coils, then hit Return to 2HKO the Druddigon and the Haxorus. * Cheren (Route 10): As always, avoid Cheren's Unfezant and Emboar and kill Simisage and Liepard with Return or your STAB move. * Elite Four Shauntal (Pokémon League, Ghost-type): Use the Substitute + Leech Seed or the Substitute + Coil strategy against her Cofagrigus, as there are high chances that the Ghost starts with Will-o-Wisp to try to burn your Serperior. Attack it with your STAB until it's down and then change to another Pokémon as Shauntal is going to send her Chandelure. After the Fire-type terror is gone, send Serperior out again so it can OHKO the Jellicent and Golurk with its STAB move. * Elite Four Marshal (Pokémon League, Fighting-type): The SubCoil strategy here works perfectly as all of Marshal's Pokémon use physical moves that Serperior can tank, except if they are critical hits. Use the Throh to set up some Coils before going behind a Substitute and hit it with Leaf Blade. Do the same with the rest of Marshal's Pokémon, but go with a Substitute first in the case of Mienshao as this Pokémon knows U-Turn and a critical hit for that moves could be fatal. * Elite Four Grimsley (Pokémon League, Dark-type): Avoid his Scrafty as it knows Poison Jab, as well as his Bisharp if you don't have a Fighting-type Hidden Power, because it can resist any moves Serperior has. Gladly, Krookodile is going to be OHKO-ed by any of your STABs and Liepard is a well-known rival thanks to the thousand battles you had with Cheren. * Elite Four Caitlin (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): Caitlin's Pokémon are really defensive and Serperior is going to need more hits than with others to knock them out. Sigilyph is a no in any case, Reuniclus and Gothitelle can put you in a risk, while Musharna can set up a Reflect to resist your Leaf Blade. You decide if you want to take the risk or not in this battle, but you probably have a Dark, Ghost or Bug move user that can do a better job here. * Reshiram/Zekrom (N's Castle): Reshiram is a total NO for Serperior and Zekrom, while it can be battled, the best move here is to use Leech Seed and put a bulky Pokémon (not weak to Electric, of course) in front of Zekrom so you can catch it easily without using the Master Ball. * N (N's Castle): If you put Reshiram/Zekrom in your team, use it to battle N's own dragon. If not, do as the above, stay away from Reshiram and Leech Seed + change for Zekrom. For the rest of N's team, battle only the Carracosta with Serperior, as the rest of the team feature a Vanilluxe, a Klinklang that resist all the things you have, a Zoroark with Flamethrower and an Archeops with Acrobatics. The Carracosta is going to go down with two STABs moves thanks to Sturdy, except in the case the Vanilluxe used Hail before. * Ghetsis (N's Castle): Ghetsis' Cofagrigus likes to use Toxic + Protect to kill its rivals, so use this in your advantage to set up a SubCoil or SubSeed strategy and knock it down with your STAB. In the case you used the SubCoil one, try to set up at least four Coils so you can use Return to OHKO Ghetsis' Bouffalant and Hydreigon and with Leaf Blade - his Eelektross and Seismitoad. Bisharp is only going to be knocked with a Fighting-type Hidden Power, so don't waste your time with it. If you aren't using SubCoil, OHKO the Seismitoad and let others fight this crazy man's team, because all of his Pokémon know super-effective moves to kill your Serperior. * Post-Game: The usual strategy works. Just be careful as usual with Pokémon that have super-effective moves against you. Moves You get your Snivy with the moves Tackle and Leer, like most starters. At level 7 Snivy learns Vine Whip, its first STAB move, but not enough powerful to make a difference with Tackle. At level 10 comes Wrap while level 13 brings Growth, the first stat-buffing moves Snivy can learn. Leaf Tornado appears at level 16 and four levels later, it gains Leech Seed, one of the most useful moves is going to learn. Level 24's Mega Drain works with a more defensive Servine and level 28 Slam is an upgrade for Tackle - unless you value accuracy more. Level 32 and 36 are the favourites of the physical Serperior as it learns Leaf Blade, its best physical STAB, and Coil, a stat-buffing move that works really well with the bulk Serperior has. Special Serperior gets its best move at level 44 with Giga Drain. At level 50 it learns Wring Out, a move that you aren't going to use a lot. In the TM department, Serperior's favourite moves are Substitute and Return. With the first one it can start the two famous sets of SubCoil and SubSeed that any Serperior wants to use and with the second one, it lets you hit Sap Sipper Pokémon like Bouffalant that are immune to Serperior's STABs. Aerial Ace and Dragon Tail can work as coverage moves, while Taunt, Double Team and the screens, Light Screen and Reflect, can be useful if you are in a need for some support moves for your team. Recommended moveset: ''Pure Physical (SubCoil): Leaf Blade, Substitute, Coil, Return / Aerial Ace / Dragon Tail'' ''Mixed (SubSeed): Leaf Blade / Giga Drain, Substitute, Leech Seed, Protect / Return / Aerial Ace / Hidden Power (Fighting or Ground)'' ''Pure Special: Giga Drain, Substitute, Leech Seed, Hidden Power'' Recommended Teammates * Water-types: If the game gives you a Panpour isn't only to stomp a Pansear, but to learn that Water-type Pokémon are one of the best friends a Serperior can ask for. They can deal with Fire-types and resist the attacks from these one as well from Ice-types. With most of them having some really good coverage that can protect the grass snake from Poison, Bug or Ice, these group of Pokémon offer a great help to Serperior. A few examples of this include Simipour, Seismitoad and Jellicent. * Fire-types: Along with Water, Fire is another good ally for Grass. They cover really well between each other, being Fire the one dealing with Ice, Bug and Steel and Grass the one taking out Water, Ground and Rock. At the same time, Fire-types resist their own type, as well as Bug and Ice, being able to take a more defensive role too to help Serperior. A few examples of this include Simisear, Darmanitan and Chandelure. * Rock-types: They can hit four out of five of Serperior's weakness and resist the last one, making them the best teammates for the snake. On another note, Rock-types are weak to Water and Ground, two types that Serperior can take out without problems. A few examples of this include Gigalith, Archeops and Carracosta. * Steel-types: More than an offensive support, they work as a defensive teammates for Serperior, they resist Ice (one they are even strong against), Flying, Bug and are immune to Poison, turning them in a really good switch option for Serperior to escape from a battle. At the same time, Serperior covers them from Ground, their weakness and Water, a type they have problems hitting (except Ferrothorn). A few examples of this include Excadrill, Ferrothorn or Bisharp. * Ground-types: Another offensive support hitting Fire, Poison and Steel-types and if they can learn Rock-type moves, Bug and Flying-types. Some of them can even battle Ice-types thanks to a secondary type that resist Ice. A few examples of this include Krookodile, Excadrill and Seismitoad. Other Snivy's stats Servine's stats Serperior's stats * What Nature do I want? Pure special Serperior is the most restrictive one, if you want to go with that, you don't want any nature that can lower your Special Attack. Adamant (+Atk -SpAtk) can be really good for the late game as it works really well with the SubCoil strategy. Other Special Attack-lowering natures like Relaxed (+Def) and Sassy (+SpDef) are useful too as they give Serperior more survivability. Neutral natures are another good choice as Snivy and Servine are going to work with physical and special offensive moves before they can decide which set are going to use. * At what point in the game should I be evolved? You should have a Servine before battling Lenora, so evolve your Snivy at level 17 without worrying. For Serperior, you can wait until level 40 so Servine learns Giga Drain four levels before or evolve it at 36. Do what you want, but you must have a Serperior for Brycen's battle... although you will likely not be using it there. * How good is the Snivy line in a Nuzlocke? Snivy is one of the hardest starters to use in a Nuzlocke. It only has a few moves to choose from and isn't a OHKO-machine like others, but it has a really decent bulk for a Grass-type and two gimmicky strategies that can transform Serperior into a killing machine. Serperior is made for people that want to play with risk and consider strategies that are in the hands of luck. Is a really fun Pokémon to use thanks to SubSeed and SubCoil, but not the best choice if you prefer to play a safer mode. * Weaknesses: Fire, Flying, Bug, Ice, Poison * Resistances: Water, Grass, Electric, Ground * Immunities: None * Neutralities: Dragon, Dark, Psychic, Fighting, Ghost, Rock, Normal, Steel Category:Black/White Category:List of Evolutionary Lines with Completed Analyses